It Started With Jealousy
by Bontaque
Summary: Harold/Louis; daddy!kink and spanking, written as a birthday gift for a friend.


Harold was many things. Often underestimated, mainly down to his remarkable ability to blend into the background. He was also a lot smarter than he seemed, hard working and really, really attracted to power. Currently, he was watching Harvey and Louis arguing. He could make some of it and from what he could hear and the look on Mike Ross's face, Louis was trying to make a wager for him again. Harold knew what it was. Louis was jealous of Mike for several reasons. Harold knew Mike was a genius: rumour had it that he had an eidetic memory. He also knew that Louis was jealous of Mike and Harvey's relationship. Harold couldn't blame him, they were obviously fucking.

Harold just couldn't watch them get like this without getting jealous. Blending into the background could be good, it worked for him most of the time. It made life easier, _most of the time_. Now, though, he wished he stood out more. Why didn't Louis realise that he could be just as good for him? He watched as the two men in front of him seemed to back down. He knew better, he knew they had just hit a wall.

He looked quickly at Mike; his fellow associate was staring intently at Harvey. He could sort of see it, sort of see the attraction. Harvey was a handsome man, he dressed well and he did have some kind of power. He was clever, witty and he could probably hold his own in a fight, but he wasn't aggressive. Sure, he was authoritative enough but Harold didn't think Harvey really frightened him enough.

Louis walked past Harold's desk, looking back as Mike followed Harvey out of the room. Harold had to bite back a sigh at the way Louis's mouth twitched. He was angry. Understandable, the way Mike had heeled... Harold though Louis might have a thing for that. Once Louis had settled back in his office, Harold gave him a few minutes before walking in after him.

"The briefs you asked for, Sir," he said, handing a folder over. He emphasized the _sir_. Not enough to sound sarcastic, just enough to grab his attention. Step two. Harold knew that Louis liked that Mike went further than he needed to, without looking like he was sucking up. "I'm about to break for lunch. I know you're probably working through again. Do you want me to pick you up anything?"

Louis looked up at him, slightly surprised. Two in one: he'd managed to offer him something, whilst complimenting him on working hard. Harold knew that Louis was sensitive about being appreciated.

"Oh, well, I could use a coffee, thanks," he said.

"White, one sugar, right?"

"Yes. Thanks."

"No problem, sir."

Harold ate quickly, getting Louis's coffee last, to make sure it was hot when he returned. As he was about to pay, he spotted a gluten free bagel. He vaguely remembered Louis complaining that they were always gone straight away because there were never enough. He picked it up and added to his purchases.

Louis was still in his office when Harold got back. He was working hard. That was another thing Harold admired. Sure, Harvey had worked hard to get where he was, but Harold didn't really agree that that was an excuse to arrive at any time he wanted to. He placed the coffee on the desk and Louis nodded his thanks, not tearing his eyes away from his work.

"Uh, sir?" Harold asked. "I understand if you don't want it, but there was a gluten free bagel left and I know-"

Louis looked up quickly and smiled when he caught sight of the bagel. "You remembered?"

"Of course, sir. If you need anything, anything at all, you can count on me."

Harold put the bagel down next to the coffee and ducked out of the office. He thought he might have gone a little too far but Louis seemed happy.

XXXX

Harold kept up the compliments, knowing just where Louis needed his ego pumped. After a week, it was starting to pay off. Louis came to him more often when he needed help and once, he had Harold work alongside him on a particularly taxing case.

It wasn't until they ended up in a bar together that Harold really started to put the effort in. Louis had needed someone to work with him at a mixer; him and Harvey had finally made their wager. They were to pull in as many new clients as possible and each man got one assistant. Naturally, Harvey had chosen Mike. From what Harold had gathered, if Louis won, he got control of Mike for one week. He wasn't sure what Harvey would get if he won.

There were five minutes left and Harold had managed to help Louis sign three new clients. It looked like they were going to win. Mike and Harvey had been desperately talking to one woman all night. Louis was grinning at him now, looking at the large clock on the wall. Just as the hand ticked around to ten o'clock, Harvey shook the woman's hand, not a deal, but a goodbye.

"Well, Harvey?" Louis asked as his opponent walked over to join them.

"I think I can safely say I've won."

"Really? With one client?"

"Oh, you mean Chloe? No, no, she's not a client. Well, she is, but she's a client we already have," Harvey replied, smirking at Louis's confusion. Mike was smiling too now, looking at Harvey with something more than awe. It was admiration, mixed with respect and a dash of lust.

"What do you mean?" Louis asked.

"I was talking to her about her company. She has fourteen employees that, according to Mike, here, could really do with switching to us. You see, the current law firm her company uses for the employees is about to go under, so she spoke to them all an hour ago."

Harold watched as Louis took a deep breath. He thought he was going to shout, he'd seen how angry Louis could get, but instead, he just shook Harvey's hand firmly.

"Fine. The tickets are yours. Come on, Harold, we're leaving."

Harold turned to leave with Louis, avoiding Mike's eye. He looked way too pleased with himself and Harold was pretty sure he saw Harvey doing something inappropriate to his fellow associate as they all turned away from each other.

"Do you want to stay for a drink?" Louis asked. It caught Harold off guard, but Louis had been working hard all night. It seemed, though, that his superior was finally seeing the point in investing in him, too.

"Yes, sir." Harold had gotten into the habit of calling Louis sir at all times now. Louis seemed to really like it and Harold couldn't deny that he got a bit of a thrill from it.

They walked to the bar together, Harold purposely falling slightly behind to let Louis feel more in control. They ordered and found some unoccupied stools. It felt strange, being this informal with his boss, but damn, he had worked for this.

"Fucking Harvey..." Louis groaned.

"I know, sir." Harold had learned that it was best to let him complain for a while.

"He always has to go and pull something, doesn't he? Just... fuck. Fucking hell." Louis's language was a sign of a few things: how much he'd had to drink, how pissed off he was and, most of all, how comfortable he felt around Harold. Good.

"Can I be blunt, sir?"

"What? Sure, I guess."

"I really don't see the point in you trying this any more," Harold said. He saw the anger in Louis's face and quickly continued. "No, no, let me explain. Please don't take that to mean that you're not good enough."

Louis nodded, calming down a little. "Go on."

"Well, this is what always happens. You make a fair deal and Harvey... well he practically cheated. You know it, I know it, they both know it. He planned this before he got here tonight, he must have done."

"Harold, that's what we do. We plan, we research, we exploit weaknesses," Louis sighed.

"No, sir. This isn't court. This isn't a trial. The deal was to come here tonight and try to win over as many clients as possible. Technically, he won over one and she did the rest for him."

Harold could see the light in Louis's eyes as he explained. No. He did not want to give him ideas of some kind of rematch.

"My point is, sir, that I don't even see the point. So, what? You don't get Mike for a week? Why do you even want him? Sir, yes, he's brilliant, but he's Harvey's. Even if you did get him for a week, what difference would it make? He'd still work for Harvey. The only reason he's so good is because Harvey spends so much time on him. I think your efforts would be best spent training one of us up, sir. Sure, we might not ever get Ross's memory, but at least..." Harold chose his words carefully here. "At least then we'd be yours."

Louis was smiling now. Harold would have never dared pitch this to him when his boss was sober, but he seemed to be warming to the idea.

"Is it... Sir, is it a sexual thing?" Harold asked. "Everyone knows Mike and Harvey are... well, we're pretty sure they're fucking, sir."

"Are you asking me if I want to fuck Mike?"

"No. I'm asking you if you want someone to do what you want, like Mike is obviously doing for Harvey, sir. I'm just saying, getting Mike to work for you for a week isn't going to get him into bed. If that's what you want, again, you're better off working with... one of us, sir."

Louis raised his eyebrow as he took another sip of his drink. Harold just looked at him, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind. Come on, I think it's time we left."

Once Harold was home, he reviewed the night's events. All in all, it could have gone worse. It could have gone better, too, he could have gone home with Louis, but he hadn't really thought that to be a possibility. Not yet.

The next week passed uneventfully. Harold caught Louis looking at him a little more often when he addressed the group and he continued to bring him coffee and anything else he asked for. By the end of the week, a few of the other associates had taken to calling him The Lapdog.

"Is there a problem here?" Louis asked as he walked up to a few of them laughing and making canine sounds. They shook their heads, shocked at Louis's apparent materialisation from thin air.

"Good. Get back to work. Harold, I want to see you in my office."

Harold got up silently and followed, forgoing the usual _yes, sir_ to prevent further howling from his workmates.

Once the door closed, Louis motioned for him to sit down and he did so.

"Sir?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what you said last week," Louis said. He then clarified "At the bar."

"Which part, sir?"

"The part about looking to you if I wanted to... well, if I was looking for a closer relationship with one of the associates."

"Sir, I did not specify myself, I-"

"Enough pretence, Harold," Louis said. He was smiling now, that smile he used when he was going to get his way. A shiver ran up Harold's spine and he fell silent. "You made yourself clear enough. I want you to come home with me tonight."

"Of course, sir."

Louis looked vaguely surprised, but he hid it quickly with a smile.

"Good. You know where I live, I believe. I'm leaving at six. Be there at seven, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Harold returned to his desk quickly, not looking at anyone as he passed their desks. He spent the next few hours trying not to think about what he would be doing later on. When Louis left without a glance in his direction, he finished up his work quickly and left soon after.

XXXX

Harold stood outside the door for a while, steadying himself. He was early, anyway. When his watch ticked over to exactly seven o'clock, he knocked. He was encouraged only by his urge to be on time.

When Louis opened it, Harold was glad to see that he hadn't changed. He didn't want to see him casual. If he had this his way, it would be back at the office, on his desk. Inside, the apartment wasn't what he would have expected. He hadn't really thought about it, but Harold thought he would have expected more of what he was used to at work: glass walls, large windows, minimalistic furniture. Louis's apartment was as different to that as you could get without it being unpleasant.

From what he could see of the place, it was warm, inviting. The furniture looked comfortable, the carpet was thick and the décor was... homely? Everything was still, without a doubt, expensive. Harold thought that the bookcase alone was probably worth more than all of the furniture in his own apartment. The bookcase in question was full of large volumes and files and Harold was beyond impressed.

"Anything I can get you? Drink?" Louis asked.

"No, I'm fine, thank you, sir."

Harold noticed that Louis straightened up slightly at the mention of _sir_. Good, they were on the same page.

"So..." Louis said. He gestured towards the couch and Harold walked over, sitting down tentatively. He'd been right, it was comfortable.

"Sir, have you done this before?"

"What? Of course... what do you mean?"

"I mean with an associate? Have you ever brought someone home from the office?"

"No. You would be the first."

Harold tried not to blush, but he couldn't help it.

"Thank you, sir."

"You like calling me sir, don't you, Harold?"

"Yes, um, sir."

"So, is it an authority thing?"

Harold nodded. He knew what he wanted, but he couldn't help but get nervous when he was faced with it. Louis laughed quietly.

"So typical. You work in an office and you have a thing for authority. You want me to pull you over my knee and spank you?"

"Fuck, please." It had just slipped out and Louis's face told him instantly that he had been joking.

"Really?" Louis looked like he was considering it.

"Uh... yeah. Sorry. I didn't realise you were kidding. Sir."

Louis sat back and just grinned. "Come on then."

"What?"

Harold gasped as he was pulled forwards, landing across Louis's lap.

"Well, you haven't exactly done anything wrong, have you?" Louis said. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be spanking you for."

Harold bit his lip. Just being laid out like this was getting him hard. He felt Louis's hand graze up his back as he tried to ignore the pressure the position was putting on his erection. Harold flinched slightly as fingers grazed against his neck.

"Bit sensitive?" Louis asked, running his fingers over his neck again. Harold shuddered, shifting his weight against the knee beneath him. _Fuck. _Louis must have felt that.

"Wait, are you hard? From what? The neck thing, already?" Louis ran his fingers against the same spot and Harold shuddered, shaking his head.

"N-No, sir. It's... I think it's the position."

"Oh? You can't even control yourself, can you?" Harold twitched slightly at Louis's words. He squirmed slightly in his lap, trying to keep calm. "Can you? Harold, answer me."

"N-No sir. I can't."

Harold gasped as he felt Louis's hand run down his back to his ass. He smoothed small circles before his hand was taken away. Harold braced himself, whimpering slightly as Louis brought his hand down firmly. His hips bucked as the hand rose and hit him again.

"Stand up." Louis's voice was sudden and it took Harold a few moments to register that he'd spoken. He jumped up quickly, scrambling off of his lap.

"You're awfully over dressed," Louis said. "Take your jacket, shirt and pants off."

Harold did as Louis told him, stripping until he was in his underwear. Louis motioned to his feet and he removed his shoes and socks. The carpet felt wonderful beneath his feet. Louis made another gesture for Harold to get back to where he was before. He dropped down over his boss's lap, almost wincing at the feeling of the clothing against his bare chest.

Louis's hand was running over his body now and Harold couldn't help but squirm.

"Stay still."

He bit his lip and forced himself to stay still concentrating on Louis's voice, trying to ignore how achingly hard he was.

"P-Please..." he whimpered.

"Quiet."

"S-Sorry, sir."

"What did I just say?" Louis said suddenly, his voice deepened. Harold tensed as he felt a hand slide down, pulling his underwear aside and there was barely a pause before that hand was coming down hard, stinging against his skin. Fuck. It was time for the final blow.

"I'm sorry... Daddy."

Harold had seen the CCTV footage from when Louis had brought a date back to the office. He'd seen the way she'd suddenly gotten angry and he'd heard the speculation about what Louis had said to make her flip like that. He'd gone to speak to someone about getting the footage enhanced so that they could work out what he'd said. For some reason unknown to Harold, however, quite a few people didn't like Louis as much as he had. The guys in IT had been more than happy to reveal that there was audio on the clip, too. _Call me Daddy._

When Harold breathed that last word, he felt Louis tense up beneath him.

"I told you to be quiet, boy," Louis said, hitting him again.

Harold didn't reply this time, he didn't have to. He could feel Louis's erection digging into his lower ribs. His hand came down again, and again, forcing Harold to buck his hips against Louis's lap. After five, his skin was stinging and, fuck, he didn't see how he could last much longer.

"You're so gone, just from that, aren't you? Fuck, you're such a slut."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, but Harold knew he was supposed to answer. He'd get punished for speaking up again, but he was supposed to.

"Y-yes, Daddy."

His hand came down twice in quick succession and Harold whimpered, biting back his orgasm. Louis wouldn't appreciate him ruining a pair of his pants.

"Right, enough, get down," Louis said suddenly and Harold moved quickly. Was kneeling too much? He did it anyway, careful to keep his ass off of his heels. He saw Louis smirk as he stood up and he wasn't sure if it was at the kneeling, his discomfort or something else entirely.

"You want me to fuck you?"

"Yes! Please, fuck..."

"I don't know. Didn't sound like you wanted it that much."

"Please, _Daddy_, please fuck me." Harold knew that Louis could tell it was deliberate, but it worked any way. He wasn't going to complain, Harold quite liked it.

"Fucking slut, wait there."

Harold stayed still as Louis walked off through a door to the left. He returned seemingly unchanged. Harold moved forwards as Louis tugged at his hair, falling down onto his hands and knees. He flinched at the sudden temperature change as Louis's finger prodded him open; the lubrication Louis had returned with was cold.

Harold bit his lip as Louis worked further into him, his skin still tingling and stinging from minutes before. He groaned as another finger and then another slid into him, teasing him open.

"Please..."

"What is it, slut?"

Fuck, why did he like _that_? Harold pushed back, his hips thrusting, trying to force Louis to give him more.

"Please, I can't take it, fuck, please fuck me." He was surprised at how easily it all slipped out, at how much he needed it. Louis made an amused noise as his pulled his fingers out, less slowly than he could have. Harold bit back a groan as he felt Louis's cock press up against him, resisted the urge to just fuck himself onto it.

The fingers pressing into his hips pulled steadily harder, forcing Harold backwards. He groaned as he felt Louis thrust hard into him.

"You like that?"

Harold could only mumble a response, momentarily distracted by the jolt of pleasure shooting up his spine. He was jerked back to reality as a hard slap came down on his ass again.

"I asked you a question."

"Y-Yes, fuck, yes."

The stinging radiated through him as Louis began to fuck him, the tingling, pulsing spreading straight through his cock. He could feel his orgasm building, the pleasure coiling in his stomach, unwinding through his limbs like a column of smoke. Louis slipped his hand around him and Harold gasped as he felt fingers wrapping around his cock. He was too close to stop himself from thrusting, and Louis laughed softly.

"You'd better not come on my carpet."

"I- You're going to have to stop touching me then," Harold breathed, his legs starting to shake.

Louis let go of his cock and Harold almost sighed, until he felt his hand come down on his ass, hard. It should have stopped him needing it so badly, he knew it, but if anything it made it worse.

"You don't tell me what to do," Louis said and he went back to squeezing and stroking his cock slowly.

"Please... fuck, I can't, sir..."

"So I'm _sir_ again now, am I?" Louis asked. "I don't know which one I prefer."

Harold just groaned as Louis thrust harder, knowing that he couldn't last much longer. He tried everything, thinking about work, paying his rent but nothing was helping. He bit down hard on his lip, willing himself to hold on as Louis fucked him faster. Harold was almost relieved when he felt fingers digging into his hip, holding him on to Louis's cock he came.

Harold steeled himself as Louis kept stroking him, even as he began to pull out. It was too much.

"Please..." he whimpered.

Louis flipped him over with ease, forcing Harold onto his back. Just a few more jerks and he was done, he couldn't hold it back any longer and he thrust up hard into Louis's fist as he came over himself.

"The second bathroom is through there," Louis said, pointing at a door to their right. "Clean yourself up."

Harold stood, his knees and back feeling weird after being hunched over for so long and entered the room. It was small but well equipped; Harold supposed that the other bathroom must have a shower in it, unless Louis only used baths. He did what he could to clean up, short of getting in the tub and looked in the mirror.

The dark pupils that looked back at him, coupled with the bitten colouring of his lips made him smile. He could see marks creeping over his shoulders, small circles of dark skin around his hips where he'd been gripped. From the sensation of walking and logic, he knew that if he'd turned around, there would have been deep red marks on his ass. He was slightly disappointed that tomorrow wasn't a work day. By Monday, this would have faded. Maybe, if he was lucky, if he'd been good enough, he could get Louis to have him over one of the desks some time.

He shook his head and straightened up. When he went back to the other room, Louis was nowhere to be seen and his clothes had been neatly folded on the couch for him. No problem, he hadn't exactly expected to stay the night. He began to pull his shirt on quickly, he didn't want to be there when he got back, not if that wasn't what Louis wanted.

"What are you doing?" asked Louis from a doorway.

"Oh, uh, getting dressed?"

"Why?"

"I assumed... Do you want me to leave?"

Louis shook his head. "I was hoping you'd stay the night, actually. Of course, if you'd rather leave, that's fine."

"No, sir. Not at all. I just thought that was what you wanted."

Harold almost dropped his shirt on the floor, but remembered how it had been before. He folded it quickly and put it with the rest of his clothing.

"Do you have plans for the weekend?" Louis asked.

"No sir."

"Good."


End file.
